1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing device for manufacturing a wire harness provided in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of electronic devices are mounted on a motor vehicle. In the motor vehicle, a wire harness is provided to supply an electric power from a power source such as a battery or a control signal from a controller to the electronic devices.
The wire harness includes a main harness and external parts attached to the main harness. The main harness includes a sub-harness which is formed by bundling a plurality of electric wires having a connector provided in terminals.
The wire harness is assembled in a factory, as shown in FIG. 8, by a wire harness manufacturing device 100 including a belt conveyor 101 having a continuously circulating travel belt and working benches 102 transported by the belt conveyor 101 (for instance, see JP-A-9-141529).
In the wire harness manufacturing device 100, parts boxes 103 are provided in the vicinity of the wire harness manufacturing device 100 that store the external parts such as grommets for the wire harness attached to the sub-harness or the main harness, protectors for the wire harness, wiring clips or the like. An operation of the wire harness manufacturing device is prevented from stopping due to the shortage of the external parts by the stock stored in the parts boxes 103.
However, in the wire harness manufacturing device 100 disclosed in the JP-A-9-141529, when the external parts to be attached to the sub-harness are insufficient, the wire harness cannot be manufactured. Therefore, the parts boxes 103 that store many stocks of the external parts need to be installed in the vicinity of the wire harness manufacturing device 1. Further, since the external parts are respectively attached to the working benches 102 of the wire harness manufacturing device 100, the parts box 103 is installed for each of the working benches 102. Accordingly, an installed area of the wire harness manufacturing device 100 is increased, so that a wide working space needs to be ensured in the factory.
Further, since the external parts are essentially required to manufacture the wire harness, relatively many external parts are stored in a storehouse as the stocks. Accordingly, a space for accommodating the stocks of the external parts needs to be ensured and a management of the stocks is necessary.